Governor to pack day with KidCare enrollment campaign, Illinois rail transportation recognition, a stop at Midway Airport and conclude with the twilight state fair kickoff parade         

[AUG. 11, 2005]  CHICAGO -- Today (Thursday) Gov. Blagojevich is kicking off a back-to-school KidCare enrollment campaign and unveiling new online applications for KidCare and FamilyCare that will make it even easier for families to find out about and sign up for health care.

The governor is also being honored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for his commitment to providing health care to working families in Illinois. Despite tough budget times, the governor added 56,000 more people to the KidCare and FamilyCare health programs this year, bringing the total increase to 324,000 people since the governor took office.

Following that event in Chicago, the governor will join railway workers in Riverdale to sign a bill that will reinforce Illinois as a critical transportation hub in the Midwest. The bill will make it easier for communities to partner with the private sector to build intermodal facilities -- state-of-the-art transportation terminals that serve as loading and unloading points for rail shipments moving through the state.

The governor will then head to Chicago's Midway Airport to sign two bills that will make it illegal to impersonate a pilot in restricted areas of airports and will stiffen penalties for trespassing in an airport's restricted area. The bills were prompted by a recent news report that documented how easy it was for someone to obtain a pilot's uniform and use it as a disguise to deceive airport security.

Finally, the governor and the first family will kick off the 2005 Illinois State Fair in Springfield by marching in the annual Twilight Parade at 6 p.m.

The parade route begins at North Grand Avenue and Ninth Street. The parade will travel west on North Grand to Peoria Road before heading north on Peoria to 11th Street. From 11th, the parade will head through the fairgrounds' main gate onto Main Street and continue to Grandstand Avenue, where it will end at the north end of the grandstand.

[News release from the governor's office]